Folding berth for sleeping cars and supporting and locking means therefor



Feb. 13, 1951 c. L. FIKE FOLDING BERTH FOR SLEEPING CARS AND SUPPORTING AND LOCKING MEANS THEREFOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 15, 1949 @[CIZ ATTORNEY Feb. 13, 1951 c. L. FlKE 2,541,156 FOLDING BERTH FOR SLEEPING CARS AND SUPPORTING AND LOCKING MEANS THEREFOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 15, 1949 l nanj "LEE NVETO. Charles L F k2.

BY afhuw ATTORNEY iatenteci F e i). 13, 195i FGLIiiNG ei mh imR 's m me mes 'A'ND SUPPURT'IN G MEANS THEREFOR Ami BOOKING fiiledelphia, Pa., a corpora-i A lieation April 15 1949; Serial N65 sixes 2i 1'01. 1 ii ii H n The ifiiiiitloh fe ltes ieihvai sleeping cers; i .fi f l l t S um. ca s 1 a in ro i equipped ivith berths folding aboutap axis ad: jalnt on rnargin thereoi to a stowed position a ain ta q ,well a d mo abl n mwsp stofvd to e; horizontal use position extending across theroom floor. ,t v A The invention is particularly concernedwith the means 1 or si p aortingg' and latching the free end of the berth rengote fromjts pivoted "end in the giovvn or use position. It finds use primarily in rooins where one corner of the free end of the berth is e gijacent afflziegi room wall so it; can be latchedthereto, and where the opposite corner piiojects over a spaee having no fixed room wall adjacent thereto, so thatmea ns independent of the roorn jpalls are required to supportth'at corner of the berth.

It is an objectionof the invention to' provide a a simplified means forsupporting and latching: the free enq of theberth in the down or horizontal use position. I

Such means may comprise a folding leg for suiJPOrtingth-e corner of the berth reinote from a fixed well of the room; and latching means for latehingthe other corner to the adjaent fixed wall and connectionsflbetween said latching means and the folding leg whereby the latch is autometicaily reiea'sedwhen the leg is folded;

The above; object and other and further jeots and advantages and the mariner in which they are attained will: become fully apparent from the following detailed description When read in connection with the'accornpanyingdrelw lngs forming a part of this specification.

In the draiilings, v o Figure 1 is" a s'ect-ional plan view, parts" Being shown more or less diagrammatically; of i i" portion of a: railway sleeping oer showing a room" and berth arrangement to which the invention has" been ipplie'd; the section beingtalin sub ste'mtially along the line ll of Fig; 2; a Figure 2 is" a longitudinal vertiea-l sectional view of said'c'err portion; the motif h'ein'gf ta l 'fi sub'stantiallfalohi the lifi 2 2 Of 1:

Figure 31s a} frag-mhta'ryside eieyeoonerview on air enlarged scale} of the free or foo't end of 1, this'view showing the supporting leg in foldd' condition supporting leg in extended or opefaftive position? through the berth frameand the ,adjeicentralj side 52 1,11,,the seqtiqn being taken substantially. along the ,linei-fi of Fig-'35 M i i Figure 5a is a detail sectional view showing the. 'letch end l a teh actuator rod inra difierent position fr'om that shown in .Fig; 5; this being the position the parts assume-when th'esupportiiig. leg is moved to the operative position shdwrr in ei 7.,

Figurefi is a; detaiiplazn v'iewof the corner of: the herth suriported by the leg, parts beingbroken away andshownin" section; Figure 711's a detail se'ctionil View tlk'ii suhstantially along the line 1-1 of Fig. 6; 1 Figure 8 is a detail s'ectiorii'l view ta en stitstanti'a'lly alongthe lifi rsof Fig; 4; efmii I Figure 9' is a dtil seetiaiiei View taken tlofi the iii-ree s or Fig. 4 20 .Tfi?' i "ifi, e?

rarilwaii s eepin cli of #2;462;Q2'7 t0 19 29 fititlli R51 i s .4 1hr. in us 1"" W, '1 J j 1 g gr qgi hep ge h elh are" des fighle 'tecl' fll enpi ll theroqf, by lg and em be .eeie eh el tas L diviaesine spiceb Weenthe car siclewells into a side aisle; re iiine i eht 'ee e or see disposed between "the ca ir side all [0 and the flais'l'elwatll M." n r The space for rooms is divided by fixed trans versewells lfi and I"! andacollepsible transverse wa'll I81 into ,a: pair of a'dfioinin'g roo'Tnis designatef generally by reference characters A and B. rooi'n arrangement {my be b ntmfiea threugntfit the length of the ear or fair mydesi'id t rr er its length and" with the" pairs or rooms" A h'ci Bf alternately revrsely arrang -ed. The aojbnairig oonis A and 1 sepetrzitd tithe eoliefii'sibre partition; is lwmaiy' be throwrr together intuohe large room, by folding the tiartitioh is she ii fuuiirres'm-Figur? 1; e ess to the" rooms-mo? be Henri-from the aisle thri'ieif' a? aoorwey stra 5 sliding door is; the the are together, this doorway and door also provide access to the room A.

However, when the rooms are separated by the closing of the collapsible partition as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1, access to the room A may be through a doorway in the offset portion 20 of the aisle wall, and through a passage B, when made up as a bedroom as shown, has

an upper berth 25 and a lower berth 26 extending transversely of the room along the transverse wall l6; To convert it into a sitting room, the upperand lower berths are folded against the wall [6 in a manner well understood in the art. The lower berth then forms the back of a sofa whose seat is indicated at 21.

Room A, when made up as a bedroom, as shown centrally' of these figures, has an upper longitudinally extending berth 28 and a lower longitudinally extending berth 29. The upper berth 28 may be moved through guiding grooves 30 on thev transverse wall l1 and on a fixed portion 3| of the collapsible wall I8 and coacting roller pins 32 on the ends of the berth, see Fig. 2, upwardly and laterally'to a stowed position adjacent the aisle.

The lower berth 29, when moved to the stowed position, is guided by pins 33 and coacting channels on the room walls (not shown) while supported by the links 34, so as to swing about a floating axis adjacent the head end of the bed to a vertical stowed position flanking the wall I! as shown at the left of Figures 1 and 2. Counterbalance springs, as 35, facilitate this movement. When in this position, a seat back. 36, secured to the bottom of the berth is brought into cooperative relation with a seat 31. The seat 31 may be slid forward, as shown centrally of Fig. 2, when the berth is lowered to the use position. An additional folding chair 38 provided in room A may likewise fold under the berth 29 when the latter isin the horizontal use position.

It will be seen from the foregoing, that the free or footend of the berth 29, when in the use position, has one corner thereof located adjacent the fixed side wall In of the car and the opposite corner'at said end disposed inwardly of the room 7 sition shown in Fig. 5a, and so look the berth in 7 1 To support the opposite corner of this free end 7 end walls are preferably reinforced by inner rails 43 flangedin their margins as at 44 and 45 and secured through said flanges, respectively, to the adjacent side and end walls 40, 4| and 42 and the bottom 39 of the berth frame.

Theside wall 4| is offset in its lower margin toprovide a longitudinally extending angular recess 46, the purpose of which will later appear.

The car side wall in carries'on its inner side panel 41 a usual form of snap latch 48 pivoted at 49 on a bracket 59 secured to the side panel 41, the latch being constantly urged away from the panel 41 by a coil spring 5!. It is limited in its movement under the action of the spring 5| by a stop abutment 52. .On the side wall 40 of the berth, which is disposed inclosely spaced parallel relation to the panel 41, is provided a latching recess or keeper 53 into which the latch 48 is automatically snapped; when the berth is swung down to use position, to occupy the pcthe down position. A suitable stop (not shown), on the panel 41 limits the downward movement of this corner of the berth, and the latch locks it down on this stop.

of the berth, a foldable leg 54 is provided, this leg being rigidly secured v to a shaft 55 mounted to rotate in spaced brackets 56, 56 secured to the end rail 43. Endwise movement of the shaft 55 is prevented by collars 51 rigidly secured thereto and bearing against the adjacent faces of the;

brackets 56, 56, see Fig. 6.

When extended, as shown in Fig. 4, the leg supports the adjacent corner of the berth from the floor l3. It is locked in this extended position by a brace'5l pivoted at 58 to the berth frame and at 59 to the leg. This brace is preferably made in two parts 57a, 57?) which have their adyacent ends in overlapping relation, see Fig. 8, and guided by a sleeve 69 surrounding them and rigidly securedto one of the parts, as 5'lb. A spring catch, as 6|, secured to the sleeve Bil automatically springs over the end of the other part, as 5111, to

hold the brace extended. This spring catch iscatch can be released by merely pulling down on the folded leg with sumcient'force.

According to the invention, thelatch 48 is arranged to be released by the folding movement of the leg 54. To this end, a push'rod 64, adjust-able in length, is mounted to slide transversely of=tl1e berth with one end thereof disposed in the latching-recess 53 and its opposite end in the recess 45.- A collar 55 on the rod limits its movement into the recess 45 and the rod is normally moved laterally, (toward the left, Fig. 5) to the limit allowed bythis collar by a coil spring 66, reacting between 'a collar 57 on the. rod and the bed frame, see Fig. 5. This rod 64 is so 10- cated with respect to the pivot of. the leg and a cam 68 secured to the leg that, when the leg is moved to folded position asshown in Figs. 3 and 5, the cam engages the adjacent end of the rod 64 and forces it laterally from the dotted position indicated at the left of Fig. 5 to the full line positionshown in said figure. The opposite end of the rod, in this movement, forces the latch 48' out of its locking recess 53, thereby releasing the i berth to permit it to be moved to thestowed position. position to the use position, the leg is normally swungdownwardly toward its operative position before the berth is down, so that the push rod is freed'to' the action of its spring 66 and occupies To secure the leg in this In bringing the berth from the stowed the position shown in Fig. a, where the latch 48 is free to spring into latching engagement with the recess 53 as soon as the berth reaches its down position. At the same time the fully extended leg is locked by its brace in the vertical position shown in Fig. 4 to support its corner of the berth.

The operation of the device has been made clear by the foregoing detailed description so that further description would seem unnecessary,

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been described in detail, it will be understood that changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination, a sleeping car room defined by spaced longitudinally extending car side and aisle walls and spaced transverse walls interconnecting with said side and aisle walls, a berth pivoted adjacent one of said transverse Walls and movable between a stowed position flanking said wall and a horizontal use position, a collapsible leg on the berth for supporting one corner of the free end of the berth, and means for locking the opposite corner to an adjacent longitudinal wall, said means being automatically rendered operative by the extension of the collapsible leg to its supporting position.

2. In combination, a sleeping car room defined in part by longitudinally and transversely extending walls, a berth pivoted adjacent one of said walls and movable between a stowed position flanking said wall and a horizontal use position with one corner of its free end adjacent said other wall, a collapsible leg on the berth for supporting the opposite corner of said free end of the berth, and a latch adjacent said one corner for locking it to the adjacent wall, and means for automatically moving said latch to release position when the leg is moved to collapsed condition while the berth is in the horizontal use position.

3. In combination, a berth pivoted adjacent one end thereof and movable about said pivot from a vertical stowed position to a horizontal use position, a spring-pressed latch for locking one corner of the free end of the berth in the use position, a supporting leg pivoted to the opposite corner of said free end, said leg being collapsible to lie folded alongside the berth, and means operatively connecting said leg to said latch so as to free the latch to its latching function when the leg is moved from its collapsed position toward its use position but so as to move the latch to inoperative position when the leg is moved from its use to its collapsed position.

t. In combination, a berth pivoted adjacent one end thereof and movable about said pivot from a vertical stowed position to a horizontal use position, a spring-pressed latch for locking one corner of the free end of the berth in its use position, a collapsible supporting leg pivotally supported on the berth adjacent the opposite corner of said free end and supporting said berth when extended, a transversely extending operating rod on the berth having one end thereof in position for imparting release movement to the latch and normally biased to cause its opposite end to project into the path of movement of the leg when said leg is moved to its collapsed position, and a cam means carried by the leg and arranged to engage the adjacent end of the rod, when the leg is moved to its collapsed position, to move the rod endwise against its biasing means and thereby operate the latch to its release position when the berth is locked in the use position.

CHARLES L. FIKE.

N 0 references cited. 

